Constance ARI

The exhibition A Land Without People for A People Without Land is comprised of large format porters, each with a black and white outline illustration, which visitors are invited to colour using the coloured pencils provided. Nuno Coelho is exploring the familiar concepts of his work such as the use of vernacular cultural reference and viewer interaction through print media.

The posters display various maps and graphics, and also include material directly taken from photographs collected by the artist during a month long trip to Palestine in 2006, during which he had the opportunity to explore and research the complex situation in the region.

In this exhibition, Nuno Coelho produces a visual discourse around the social tensions of daily life in this region where three continents collide, and proposes a new approach to exploring the Arab-Israeli conflict. This discourse is critical, but it is also ironic, and playfully exposes the absurdity in the current situation. This concept of the absurd is emphasized by the appropriation of infantile language and iconography, used to illustrate the reality of the current socio-political situation.

The work demonstrates the opinion of the artist that although there is a global discourse surrounding Palestine, few people can reach beyond shock images and headlines engineered by the Media and understand the basic principles of the conflict.

The work also invites us to question whether it is possible for an artwork to have immense political focus without becoming one-sided, or attempting to be transgressive, subversive or an act of political activism. Arguably, denying philosophy is in itself a philosophical act, and so perhaps even attempting to create artwork that avoids dealing directly with politics is intrinsically to take a definite political position.

Nuno Coelho was born in Brussels, Belgium, in 1976. He currently lives and works in Oporto, Portugal. He has a Masters in Design from the University of Barcelona, following completion of his degree course in Communication Design and Graphic Art at the University of Porto during which time he took part in the Erasmus Student Exchange Program at the Visual Arts School of Mons, Belgium. As a freelance Designer, has has worked for individuals and organizations in Portugal, Germany, Norway, Palestine, Spain and the United Kingdom.